Intl arbitration is hijacking domestic judicial system: FM

Expressing concern over recent trend in international arbitration, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said it was increasingly hijacking the domestic judicial system.
"We have serious concerns about the recent trends in international arbitration," Chidambaram said in response to a question at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an eminent US think-tank.
Referring to his meeting with Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey on the sidelines of annual plenary meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the Finance Minister said his Australian counterpart also expressed the same view about international arbitration.
"We think that international arbitration is hijacking the domestic judicial system. There are two major concerns. Commercial arbitrations between Party A and Party B, sovereign is being dragged into quite unnecessarily and unjustified," Chidambaram said.

"The second concern is that the judgements of the highest court in the country are being made subject to international arbitration," he said, adding that this is completely unacceptable.
"I am told, that there are two groups of arbitrators today -- pro-sovereign arbitrators and pro-complainant arbitrators all this does not arguer well. So we have very serious concerns about recent trends in international arbitration," he said.

"We believe in efficacy of bilateral investment protection agreements. We want such international agreements. But we want to guard against the ingeniously interpreted to enlarge the jurisdiction of international arbitrations. And you would agree with me that there are numerous cases of jurisdiction hopping and jurisdiction shopping in international arbitration today," Chidambaram said.

The Finance Minister asserted that the Indian regulators are being held in very high esteem today.
"Regulatory transparency (in India) is enhanced by the selection process of the regulatory, independence of the regulator, empowerment of the regulator and putting in place a system of review of regulator's decisions," he said.
Asserting that Indian regulators today are held in very high esteem, he noted that some of the regulators have not done their job as he would like them to do.
"It is a learning process for us. It is a building process for us. It will take time," Chidambaram said.